601 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
dendren display of Prof. Sargent's 
place in Brooklyn, I\Iass., and on the 
Hnnnewell estate in Wellesley, Mass. 
Charles H. Ramsdell. 
Minneapolis, Minn. 
* * * 
Cemetery planting does not differ 
from that of a home yard in principle, 
except that with the latter we have a 
house to deal with, and with the for- 
mer, monuments on a much smaller 
scale. The enclosed photograph 
shows how not to plant a cemetery, 
or rather is chiefly conspicuous for its 
lack of planting, notwithstanding that 
the monuments are of fairly good 
quality. 
The first effort of a landscape archi- 
tect would be to mask, as far as pos- 
sible. the view of the houses outside 
of the property. This cannot be done 
entirely nor is it necessary or ad- 
^•isable. The straight hedge as seen 
only emphasizes the house forms. A 
more irregular and much higher mass 
would tend to obliterate some of the 
architectural lines and would so con- 
form with the roof lines that the re- 
sult would be interesting rather than 
otherwise. The planting would be a 
mass of small trees and shrubbery 
placed directly against the border, say 
of mountain ash, birch, and buckeye, 
and of lilacs, buckthorn, sju'ingas, 
spreas, cranberries, dogwood, shad- 
bush and other strong-growing, dense 
bushes. The width need not be great; 
ten to fifteen or eighteen feet wide at 
most, and somewhat irregular. 
For interior planting the plants 
should conform with structural lines 
like those of the drives and monu- 
ments, or with imaginary lines like 
those surrounding each lot. A shrub 
or two, or a few perennials grouped 
with each monument make both mon- 
ument and planting more interesting. 
If the drive is bordered occasionally 
with a group of shrubbery, it again 
receives an interest by breaking the 
monotony of the lawn so broken al- 
ready with monuments. This latter 
may coincide with planting which 
helps to define the outlines of the 
lots. The latter may be placed in such 
a way as not to make a hard contin- 
uous border, but be a gentle touch 
here and there marking lightly where 
the outline of the lot in general is. 
These are all suggestions so far as 
the view in question is concerned. As 
a general principle, however, it is de- 
sirable to break up cemetery area 
into a number of smaller units, while 
if the same area were a park, the units 
would be larger, that is, to introduce 
occasionally a border of shrubbery to 
separate a particular spot from all 
the areas around it. In so doing one 
must not forget that a long contin- 
uous view, no matter how narrow, 
over an unobstructed bit of lawn is 
the most attractive treatment of any 
property. 
As to the choice of kinds which 
are to come close under the eye the 
plants chosen should be the most re- 
fined, as for instance, the various 
Spiraeas, especially the Spiraea Van 
Houttei, and Persian lilac, Deutzia 
gracilis and Weigela. Among the 
perennials one would take only those 
which are most certain to persist like 
the peonies and German iris. 
A. Phelps Wyman. 
Minneapolis, Minn. 
ALLEGHENY CEMETERY GREENHOUSE SYSTEM 
In Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburg, a 
greater use is made of palms for the 
adornment of lots than in any other 
cemetery in the country outside of the 
semi-tropics. There is a dignity about 
this form of decoration that the lot 
owners like. In an old cemetery 
where lots crowd upon one another, 
and monuments are frequent and con- 
spicuous, it often is inconvenient to 
use hardy shrubs on the lots by rea- 
son of their over-reaching character, 
but palms in considerable size and 
number may be set out where most 
desired as a decoration for the lot or 
as a proper support or frame for 
monuments. Not infrequently in the 
case of overcrowded stone-work, a 
tasteful interplacing of palms softens 
the effect. In the case of several of 
the most heavily endowed lots in Al- 
legheny, a palm decoration in sum- 
mer is designated. 
With these views of Superintendent 
Falconer on palm decorations, it is 
not surprising that the palm-house 
should be an important feature of 
the greenhouses illustrated here from 
one of the plates in the handsome Al- 
legheny Cemetery Book, to which ref- 
erence has been made in these pages. 
The Allegheny greenhouse system 
is a block of glass structures consist- 
ing r)f a spacious palm house 1.30 feet 
long by 31 feet wide, and five adjoin- 
ing lesser houses at the back. Two of 
these are 21 feet wide each and three 
of them 10 feet wide, and all five are 
99 feet long. In the palm house are 
wintered all of the beautiful palms 
seen throughout the cemetery grounds 
in the summer time; the lesser houses 
with an array of auxiliary cold frames 
and hotbeds are devoted to the prop- 
agation and cultivation of Easter and 
summer bedding plants. The palms 
are mostly used in the ornamentation 
of endowed lots, but other lot hold- 
ers may also engage some of them 
for the season. The cemetery does 
not sell these palms, it only rents 
them for the summer months, water- 
ing and caretaking being included. 
The cemetery does not house or care 
for anybody else’s plants over winter. 
The scores of thousands of bedding 
or summer plants raised In the small 
greenhouses and hotbeds are used 
broadcast throughout the grounds in 
filling the cemetery flower Ireds, and 
the beds and graves belonging to lot 
owners, endowed or otherwise. These 
plants are sold outright. But no plants 
or flowers of any kind are sold to go 
outside of the cemetery. 
Seventeen years ago when these 
greenhouses were built they were am- 
ple enough for all demands, but to- 
day they are not. Since then 948 new 
lots have been added, the endowed 
lots have nearly trebled, 17,208 new 
interments have been made, and the 
methods and requirements of floral 
decoration have extended vastly be- 
yond the requirements of that period. 
In May last year they had 35,000 al- 
ternanthera, 16,000 geraniums, 6,000 
sweet alyssum, 5,000 echeverias, 5,000 
English ivy, and in lesser numbers 
verbenas, petunias, vinca, centaurea, 
etc., etc., all things together about 
100,000 plants. 
In 1905 two new Lord & Burnham 
steam boilers were installed in place 
of two worn-out second-hand ones 
that had been in use before. 
A contract has now been made for 
the erection of an additional green- 
house 91 feet long and 22 feet wide 
with a corresponding work room and 
a 10-foot high cellar under the whole. 
Spring-blooming bulbous plants as 
hyacinths, tulips, narcissus are usual- 
ly planted in October or November to 
succeed the summer bedding plants, 
and come into bloom in April and 
May, before it is time to again set 
out the geraniums, etc. After bloom- 
ing, these bulbous plants soon be- 
come unsightly, and are removed. 
Liberal scope is allowed in the 
planting of summer flowers, as ger- 
aniums, petunias and alternanthera, 
luit planting them in the grass around 
graves or dotting them in the grass 
in the lots, is not permitted. As soon 
as they are destroyed by frost or be- 
come unsightly, they are cleared away. 
